The Alliance was different. With Darnassus and the Exodar, its influence in Kalimdor was considerable. By comparison, the Horde could not even control half of Kalimdor and could only cling to survival in the continent's central region.
Things had to change. That conviction had taken firm root in Thrall's mind. The Horde faced many problems now, but it could only tackle them slowly and gradually change its circumstances.
He had originally intended to use the Alliance to eliminate Kael'thas, then exploit the High Elves' hatred of the Alliance to draw Quel'Thalas into the Horde. But that idea had come to nothing with Tempest Keep's return to Quel'Thalas.
After giving it some final thought, Thrall said to Bloodhoof and Vol'jin, "The Horde needs new members. The Alliance is growing ever more powerful, while our relationship with Quel'Thalas remains unclear. We cannot rely entirely on them. We need new members to improve the Horde's overall strength."
"I'll leave this task to you. Find new allies for the Horde."
Vol'jin immediately understood what Thrall meant. Thrall was most likely referring to the Draenei. With the Draenei's addition, the Alliance's strength had grown by leaps and bounds.
The Horde, by contrast, controlled barren lands. Even if the two sides did not fight and bore no hatred toward each other, the Horde's development still could not match the Alliance's. But under the existing circumstances, once the balance of power between the two sides became severely skewed, the Horde's good days would be over. Ner'zhul's experience decades earlier was proof of that.
During the Horde's first invasion, the Kingdom of Stormwind had been defeated, and the entire southern Eastern Kingdoms had fallen. During the Second War, the whole of the Eastern Kingdoms had been engulfed in war. Even an alliance of all the human kingdoms had